Chicken Gut Microbiota Responses to Dietary Bacillus subtilis Probiotic in the Presence and Absence of Eimeria Infection

Fareed Uddin Memon; Yunqiao Yang; Geyin Zhang; Imdad Hussain Leghari; Feifei Lv; Yuhan Wang; Farooque Laghari; Farooque Ahmed Khushk; Hongbin Si

doi:10.3390/microorganisms10081548

Microorganisms (Jul 2022)

Chicken Gut Microbiota Responses to Dietary Bacillus subtilis Probiotic in the Presence and Absence of Eimeria Infection

Fareed Uddin Memon,
Yunqiao Yang,
Geyin Zhang,
Imdad Hussain Leghari,
Feifei Lv,
Yuhan Wang,
Farooque Laghari,
Farooque Ahmed Khushk,
Hongbin Si

Affiliations

Fareed Uddin Memon: State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources, College of Animal Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Yunqiao Yang: State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources, College of Animal Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Geyin Zhang: State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources, College of Animal Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Imdad Hussain Leghari: Department of Poultry Husbandry, Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences, Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Jam 70060, Pakistan
Feifei Lv: State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources, College of Animal Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Yuhan Wang: State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources, College of Animal Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Farooque Laghari: Department of Animal Production and Environment Control, College of Animal Sciences and Technology, Southeast Agriculture University, Harbin 150030, China
Farooque Ahmed Khushk: Department of Poultry Husbandry, Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences, Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Jam 70060, Pakistan
Hongbin Si: State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources, College of Animal Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10081548
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 10, no. 8
p. 1548

Abstract

Read online

Coccidiosis is a well-known poultry disease that causes the severe destruction of the intestinal tract, resulting in reduced growth performance and immunity, disrupted gut homeostasis and perturbed gut microbiota. Supplementation of probiotics were explored to play a key role in improving growth performance, enhancing innate and adaptive immunity, maintaining gut homeostasis and modulating gut microbiota during enteric infection. This study was therefore designed to investigate the chicken gut whole microbiota responses to Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) probiotic feeding in the presence as well as absence of Eimeria infection. For that purpose, 84 newly hatched chicks were assigned into four groups, including (1) non-treated non-challenged control group (CG − ET), (2) non-treated challenged control group (CG + ET), (3) B. subtilis-fed non-challenged group (BS − ET) and (4) B. subtilis-fed challenged group (BS + ET). CG + ET and BS + ET groups were challenged with Eimeria tenella (E. tenella) on 21 day of housing. Our results for Alpha diversity revealed that chickens in both infected groups (CG + ET and BS + ET) had lowest indexes of Ace, Chao 1 and Shannon, while highest indexes of Simpson were found in comparison to non-challenged groups (CG − ET and BS − ET). Firmicutes was the most affected phylum in all experimental groups following Proteobacteria and Bacteroidota, which showed increased abundance in both non-challenged groups, whereas Proteobacteria and Bacteroidota affected both challenged groups. The linear discriminant analysis effect size method (lEfSe) analysis revealed that compared to the CG + ET group, supplementation of probiotic in the presence of Eimeria infection increased the abundance of some commensal genera, included Clostridium sensu stricto 1, Corynebacterium, Enterococcus, Romboutsia, Subdoligranulum, Bacillus, Turicibacter and Weissella, with roles in butyrate production, anti-inflammation, metabolic reactions and the modulation of protective pathways against pathogens. Collectively, these findings evidenced that supplementation of B. subtilis probiotic was positively influenced with commensal genera, thereby alleviating the Eimeria-induced intestinal disruption.

Published in Microorganisms

ISSN: 2076-2607 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Science: Biology (General)
Website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/microorganisms

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords